Burns Service

Clinical service overview

We also provide clinical leadership and training for professionals across the state, and undertake research.

The Victorian Adult Burns Service (incorporating The Helen Macpherson Smith Burns Unit on 6 West) provides:

Acute care for all severely injured adult burns patients in Victoria
Secondary reconstructive surgery for burns patients in association with the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Unit
Post-Operative rehabilitation and scar management services
Advice, assessment and treatment of outpatients with minor burns

The Victorian State Burns Management Guidelines

Each year, over 5,000 patients present to Emergency Departments throughout Victoria with burn injuries. Approximately 400 of these injuries are transferred to the states' two specialist burns services at the Alfred and Royal Children's Hospital for specialist care.

As the majority of these injuries are managed by clinicians outside of the states two specialist burns services, the two services have developed the Victorian State Burns Management Guidelines that provide rapid, user friendly access to information to direct health care professionals caring for people with burn injuries in the primary care setting in Victoria.

They aim to provide a consistent standard of burns management, particularly in the early stages post injury, in order to improve outcomes for those who are injured.

The target audience of the guidelines includes:

Emergency medical responders
Emergency department staff
General practitioners & physicians
General surgeons
Nurses
Paramedics

Find out more about our service and the Burns Management Guidelines.

Refer your patient

Fax referral to us

We accept GP and specialist referrals to this service.

All referrals are triaged by the service according to clinical urgency.

Patients requiring immediate assessment should be sent to the Emergency & Trauma Centre.

If a patient requires surgery, they will be placed on a surgical waiting list. The patient may also need to attend a Pre-Admission Clinic prior to surgery.

To refer your patient, complete and fax a referral to us. For urgent referrals, also contact the service Registrar to discuss the case.

To ensure appropriate and timely triage, include all demographic and clinical details as well as relevant investigation results.

If you are concerned about any delay of the appointment or if there is any deterioration in your patient’s condition, contact the service Registrar on call on (03) 9076 2000.

Referral enquiries

(03) 9076 2025

Referral fax

(03) 9076 6938

Burns Management Guidelines

Outlines burns assessment, management, first aid and downloadable resources

Referral to Burns Clinic

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Our clinics

Clinic name	Campus	Location
Burns Clinic	The Alfred	55 Commercial Rd, Melbourne VIC 3004
Burns Wound Clinic	The Alfred	55 Commercial Rd, Melbourne VIC 3004

Resources

Burns Management Guidelines

Outlines burns assessment, management, first aid and downloadable resources

Australian & New Zealand Burn Association

The peak body for health professionals responsible for the care of the burn injured in Australia and New Zealand.

Australasian Trauma Society

Education, research and grants, employment, meetings and contacts

Trauma Victoria

Major Trauma Guidelines and Education

Skin Tissue Culture Laboratory

A Monash University website which outlines the skin tissue culture laboratory